John C. Kish Club

Club members ages 6-18 years engage in high-quality organized flag football, basketball, and soccer programs. ALL STARS aims to increase opportunities for physical activity, social interaction and recognition through high-quality structured sports programming.

Focused on social and emotional learning, the BE A STAR program gives Club members ages 11-13 the tools they need to enhance their learning, decision making, creativity, relationships, and mental health.

Summer Brain Gain provides engaging, hands-on, project-based experiences to spark youth’s curiosity for learning and encourage them to explore their interests. A key Academic Success program, Summer Brain Gain is comprised of one-week modules that offer fun, themed activities for elementary school, middle school, and high school students to ensure youth avoid summer learning loss.

Career Launch prepares teens for the world of careers and work. Through Career Launch, Club teens embark on a journey to explore possible vocations, make sound educational decisions, and find success in the world of work. This program is designed to support youth in preparing for their first job, internships, summer employment, and more.

Club Leaders-in-Training program is a job readiness, character development, and service-learning program for high school members at our Clubhouses. Participating teens take part in professional development workshops, resume and portfolio development, and hands-on work experience. Successful completion of the Club LIT program provides youth with lasting leadership skills and connects them to summer employment opportunities.

Youth ages 6-15 learn how individual health behaviors are influenced by personal beliefs and exposure to positive modeling. In addition to nutrition education, activities focus on helping youth assess, practice, identify, consider, and recognize health behaviors and messages.

Youth of the Year (YOY) and Junior Youth of the Year (JYOY) are comprehensive national leadership development programs that take place over a four-month period each year. At the intersection of community building, workforce development and leadership training, Junior YOY (youth 12-13) and YOY (14-18) programs give youth the opportunity to share their personal stories while cultivating skills like communication, goal setting and teamwork. These individuals exemplify the Boys & Girls Club mission and are proof of the impact Clubs make in transforming and saving kids’ lives.

Keystone Club is the Boys & Girls Club’s most dynamic teen program for youth ages 14 and up. This program provides leadership development opportunities both in and out of the Club. Teens gain valuable leadership and service experience by conducting activities in four areas: Academic Success, Career Exploration, Community Service, and Teen Outreach.

Designed to cultivate and amplify the powerful, formidable voices of Club teens, Lyricism 101 recognizes the power of literary arts. This program provides teens ages 13-18 an opportunity to tell their stories, build community and express their artistic visions through the music of hip-hop culture and the culture of the cipher.

Money Matters was designed using the latest research on financial education, behavioral economics, and youth development to promote financial responsibility and independence among Club members ages 13-18. Participants learn how to manage a checking account, create a budget, save and invest, start small businesses and pay for college. This curriculum helps teens develop the financial literacy skills that can lead them to workplace readiness, lifelong financial stability, and overall success.

MyFuture provides members with a safe, fun digital platform where they can showcase their work and earn recognition in the form of stars, badges, and master badges. It’s a space where kids can interact with each other – free from the prospect of cyberbullying – learn new skills and share their accomplishments. By using MyFuture with their members, Club staff can help youth make friends and build a positive self-image through online achievement.

This year-round program encourages artistic expression among Club members ages 6 to 18 through drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, mixed-media and sculpture.

An evidence-based program for youth ages 6-18 that works to build self-esteem, interest in learning, and promote pro-social behaviors in youth. The Thoughts-Actions-Feelings Circle (TAF) illustrates how this works in life: our thoughts lead to actions and those actions lead to feelings about ourselves, which in turn lead to more thoughts. The essence of the program is to emphasize those actions that promote a healthy and positive cycle.

PowerHour: Making Minutes Count helps Club members achieve academic success with engaging homework help, tutoring and high yield learning activities (HYLA). This program encourages members of all ages to become self-directed learners.

A prevention and education program that addresses problems such as drug and alcohol use and premature sexual activity. Using a team approach involving Club staff, peer leaders, parents and community representatives, young people ages 6 to 15 engage in discussion and role-playing to analyze media and peer influence, practice resilience and refusal skills, develop assertiveness and strengthen decision-making skills.

Torch Clubs are chartered small-group leadership and service clubs for youth ages 10-13. A Torch Club is a powerful vehicle that helps Club staff meet the special character development needs of younger adolescents at a critical stage in their life. Torch Club members learn to elect officers and work together to implement activities in four areas: Service to Club & Community, Education, Health & Fitness, and Social Recreation.

Triple Play, BGCA’s comprehensive health and wellness initiative, strives to improve the overall health of members, ages 6-18, by increasing their daily physical activity, teaching them good nutrition, and helping them develop healthy relationships.

DramaMatters Afterschool is a drama education program for Clubs that encourages members ages 6 to 18 to engage in hands-on performing arts activities. The program guide is a weekly program consisting of 60-minute sessions segmented for beginner, intermediate and advanced members. Sessions consist of a short warm-up; a main activity of games, script work or performance; and a 10-minute cool-down. The Lessons in Stagecraft Program Guide includes many different ways for members to express themselves creatively, from costumes to set design or directing.